I’ve suffered from Crohn’s and fibromyalgia since I was a child. I was told I had “food allergies.” My fibromyalgia was hidden from me until adulthood. In 2020, I was officially diagnosed with severe Crohn’s disease. (For those who don’t know, Crohn’s has three tiers: mild, moderate, and severe.) I received this diagnosis because I was hospitalized with sepsis after three months of severe weight loss, being unable to eat or hold anything down, and experiencing extreme pain.

After they admitted me, the gastroenterologist performed a colonoscopy and gave me my prognosis. I was scared, alone, and my muscles were so deteriorated I needed a walking aid in my 20s. They put me on steroids for a few months, physical therapy, and eventually an IV infusion every eight weeks (now it’s every six weeks). The only support I had in the beginning was from my parents and kid brother. My friends eventually helped me thereafter. My faith, yoga (as cliché as it sounds), and my counselor have been the most helpful outside of the people in my life.

If I could comfort my younger self, I would have told myself that it’s going to get easier and life will take you places you’d never imagined. Things are bad, and it’s valid to be scared, grieve, and get angry. Don’t take it out on your body; your body is doing everything it can for you. “It’s you and your body against the disease, not you against your body.” This is my quote for my own life.

I hope it impacts yours.